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Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

Vol. 53 - Alaska Resources Library and Information Services

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3.0 DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE OF KING CRAB LARVAE, PARALITHODES<br />

CAMTSCHATICA, AND P. PLATYPUS, IN THE SOUTHEASTERN BERING SEA<br />

David A. Armstrong<br />

3.1 Life History <strong>and</strong> General Biology: Paralithodes camtschatica<br />

3.1.1 Distribution <strong>and</strong> Abundance<br />

The Bering Sea shelf including Bristol Bay has been characterized<br />

as three principal water domains, the coastal, middle shelf, <strong>and</strong> outer<br />

shelf domain that extend to about the 50 m, 100 m, <strong>and</strong> 200 m isobaths,<br />

respectively (Kinder <strong>and</strong> Schumacher 1981; Fig. 3.1).<br />

<strong>Information</strong> on distribution<br />

<strong>and</strong> abundance of red king crab in these shelf areas is more<br />

comprehensive than for any other decapod fished by U.S. fleets (see Section<br />

4.0 for discussion of Tanner crab).<br />

For more than 12 years, the<br />

National Marine Fisheries Service has conducted broadscale trawl surveys<br />

in the southeastern Bering Sea (Fig. 3.2), <strong>and</strong> Otto (1981a) provides a<br />

history of information gathered by Japanese <strong>and</strong> Russian fleets during<br />

their participation in the fishery. A series of annual reports by the<br />

International North Pacific Fisheries Commission (INPFC) since the late<br />

1950's provides a continuum of detailed data on king <strong>and</strong> Tanner crab<br />

stocks in the southeastern Bering Sea as well as in other locations<br />

fished by member nations.<br />

Red king crab are widely distributed from the Sea of Japan in the<br />

western Pacific through the Kuril Isl<strong>and</strong>s to the Kamchatka Peninsula,<br />

across to the southeastern Bering Sea <strong>and</strong> as far south as British<br />

Columbia in the eastern Pacific (Marukawa 1933; Vinogradov 1946; Weber<br />

1967). The species is rather uncommon north of latitude 57°N <strong>and</strong> is<br />

<strong>53</strong>1

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